Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and a late-comer to the anti-abortion cause, claimed a narrow victory today in a straw poll of Christian conservative voters assembled in Washington and collecting votes from members online.

Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and a former Baptist pastor, placed a close second in this informal poll – with Romney claiming 1,595 votes and Huckabee 1,565. Among votes cast on-site, however, Huckabee, clear favorite in a hall full of conservative voters, claimed more than half of the total ballots.

The results of this conference of Christian conservatives serve as a stark rebuke to the Republican Party’s front-running candidate for president in national polling, Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. Giuliani, alone among his party’s candidates, supports abortion rights for women – which many among the Christian right consider a deal-breaker for him.

Giuliani did not place among the top-four finishers in the straw poll here -- indeed, Giuliani finished eighth of nine candidates, with just 107 votes out of 5,776 cast.
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With evangelical Protestants accounting for nearly one in four of all Republican voters, the message coming from the two-day “Values Voter Summit’’ sponsored by the Family Research Council is clear: Many of the party’s “social conservatives’’ are more concerned about aligning with a candidate who advances their causes of abolishing abortion and enshrining marriage as a union of man and woman in the Constitution than in supporting a candidate such as Giuliani who may prove more electable.

Yet the results of the straw-poll staged after two days of speeches from all the party’s presidential candidates may say less about the actual political prospects for either Romney or Huckabee in a crowded Republican contest.

"I think, clearly, there is a consensus building around one, two or maybe three candidates,'' said Tony Perkins, Family Research Council president, hoping that this straw poll will help social conservatives start to rally around one candidate for president.

While 1,537 people inside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton cast ballots, so did many more people who were able to join the Family Research Council online and then cast their own votes. The Romney campaign had waged a concerted effort to enlist online votes from supporters of the former Massachusetts governor, who was not entirely warmly received in the hall here – indeed the announcement of the results in the hall today were received with silence, another clear sign that Huckabee was the winner of the hall.

That was born out in the numbers: While 1,537 people here voted, some of them voted online and 952 cast their votes on-site. In the on-site vote, Huckabee collected 488 -- more than half, and far and away more than any other candidate. Romney collected just 99 on-site.

With 5,776 ballots overall cast in this straw poll, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas placed third, with 865 votes, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson placed fourth, with 564 ballots. Paul's vote, too, is a sign of the following that he has developed on the Internet.

Inside the hall, it was the message of Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and Baptist pastor, which resonated most clearly with the voters assembled here.

“There are many who will seek our support,’’ Huckabee told the audience filling a hotel ballroom today. “But it’s important that people sing from their hearts and don’t merely lip synch to our songs…

“There were times… when things amongst us were negotiable,’’ he said. “But some things are not negotiable, the sanctity of life, the definition of marriage… Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody’s politics – not now, not ever.’’

Huckabee, a former pastor in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, Ark., also served as president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention before his election as lieutenant governor and then governor.

And before Huckabee arrived at the voters’ summit here, supporters handed out leaflets: “Do Not Compromise God’s Values…. Vote for the presidential candidate who entered politics because he was pro-life, has consistently defended the personhood of the unborn, opposed creating life in order to destroy it.’’

“I come today as one not who comes to you, but as one who comes from you,’’ Huckabee said. “You are my roots.’’

Still, Giuliani’s appearance provided the highest drama of a convention-like assembly of voters who opened their sessions with song and prayer and made it clear what issues concern them most.

Giuliani, in a quiet, conversational appeal to a crowd that listened, at first, in silence, suggested that there is more that unites them than divides them.

Gradually breaking the ice in the hall, Giuliani promised to limit abortion as much as possible and appoint conservative judges “in the mold’’ of Justices Scalia, Alito, Thomas and Roberts. By the end, the audience was applauding many of his promises.

“People of good conscience come to different conclusions about whether abortions should be legal in some circumstances,’’ he said. ‘But you and I and, I believe, almost all Americans, share the same goal -- a country without abortion, achieved by changing the minds and hearts of people.

“You and I know that I am not a perfect person,’’ Giuliani told his audience. “We lose trust in political leaders not because they are imperfect -- after all, they’re human. We lose trust with them when they’re not honest with us…. We may not always agree… But I’ll give you reason to trust me, and you’ll always know where I stand. ‘’

Giuliani spoke of ridding 42nd Street of purveyors of pornography – eliciting more applause – and he spoke of his belief in God and his own parochial schooling as a child.

“It takes a family, not a village to raise a child,’’ said Giuliani, eliciting more applause with a line taking a direct shot at the Democratic Party’s leading candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, without mentioning her by name.

And with his talk of holding true to his beliefs, he made another allusion, without name, to the Republican candidate known here for shifting his stance from abortion-rights to abortion opposition, Romney.

“Isn’t it better that I tell you what I really believe, instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?’’ he asked.

Yet, many of these voters consider his position unacceptable.

“I could never vote for him under any circumstance,’’ said Chris Carmouche, of Lorton, Va. “He’s a RINO -- Republican in name only,’’ he said of Giuliani. “What’s unforgivable are his positions on abortion and the family.’’

Both Joanne and Steve Landman, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., consider Giuliani’s stance on abortion “a big problem.’’ Yet the candidate did make some headway here, Joanne Landman said: “I appreciate his candor. It endeared me a little to his personality.’’

And both said, should Giuliani win the party’s nomination in 2008, they will be compelled to vote for the Republican.

Christi Parsons of the Tribune's Washington bureau contributed to this report.

Comments

Huckabee is the real winner. Romney bought this straw poll with online voting. Romney only received 99 votes from the Washington Briefing itself. Huckabee took 51% of the on-site voting vs. Romney's 10%.

What?! Romney emailed supporters and begged for their votes?! This is outrageously LOW! I'm a big supporter of Mike Huckabee, the REAL WINNER of the debate. Mike's campaign didn't even make reference to the vote a single time on the website or through emails leading up to the poll.

Mike Huckabee will be our next President because of his faith in an Almighty God. Mitt Romney will lose because of his faith in the "Almighty Dollar."

A whole day about the religious fanatics that wish to run their country the way God told them to. I demand that the tax exemption for churches be revoked. If they want to be in politics, they need to pay their taxes.

I find it disappointing that today's christians don't stand for peace any more. They should be pressuring these candidates to move toward peace instead of global warfare. Is Ron Paul the only candidate standing for true Christian values, the only candidate pushing true American values? Sure seems like it to me!

Thank you for updating your coverage to show that Romney only received 99 votes from the Washington Briefing itself. You guys have real integrity. My respect for you just went way, way up. You have a committed reader now.

The prophet poll is in and
...oh..oh I see trouble ahead for the republican party. Huckaboo has been choosen as the "most likely to know what God wants" candidate, yet the "grand poopah" (sorry..they're called clerics in Islam, I don't know what they call them here) Rudius guilianus comes in just about dead last.
I have one question...will they wear the cross above or below their flag pins?

Note that the "Swamp" article which proclaims to give the "overall totals" actually gives nothing of the sort, but rather totals for only the leading candidates. The RINO doesn't seem to be aware, or if he is aware tries to hide the fact, that all the candidates, Democrats included, were part of this poll.

Thank you for giving fair coverage to Mike Huckabee. He was the clear victor today. Romney sent an email out to his supporters urging them to vote in the online poll. Huckabee came in 2nd in online votes through grassroots efforts by bloggers and supporters. Clearly he won by a landslide among the conservatives who got to hear him speak today.

I don't understand how Giuliani is even still in the race; He's pro-choice. How can anyone who says it's ok to kill unborn children claim Republican. It's obvious why Huckabee and Paul resonate with these type's of voters.

Ron Paul did well and will continue to do so as more and more people find out how Pro-Life he really is.

" Republican, Democrat, Independent or Ron Paul, I think you'll like what you read (Ok, maybe not Ron Paul, but who's paying attention to him anyway?). "

I'm a Ron Paul supporter who likes Mike Huckabee a lot, and I wish you wouldn't make such statements. If you disagree with Paul and want to take a shot at him, that's fine too, but sadly, since Ron Paul raised 5 times the amount Huckabee did, the obscurity-based shot doesn't really work anymore.

But anyways, here's hoping Huckabee takes Iowa, and Ron Paul takes NH, and both prove this moronic MSM pundits to be wrong.

I'm a strong Romney supporter and never received any word from the campaign about this summit. I only knew about the upcoming straw poll from grassroots bloggers.

Congratulations to Huckabee, but Romney's organization and grassroots support connot be discounted.

I like Huckabee in many ways. But his stance on immigration alone is enough to make me look the other way. Giuliani appears to be a good candidate when it comes to security, but I simply don't trust him. Thompson just puts me to sleep.

I have a lot of respect for Huckabee and Paul. In fact, there are the only two thoughtful and principled Christians in the race. I currently support Ron Paul because of his principled, Christian stand against the war on Iraq, but I'm watching Huckabee with interest as well. They'd make a great team going into 2008.

Ron Paul comes in 3rd and is mentioned in one paragraph. Giuliani loses to even Hunter, Tancredo, and Brownback who quit the race, coming in second to last only in front of a bigger loser, McCain, and he is mentioned in twelve paragraphs.

Super news coverage! You guys rock! Keep up the great work. We gotta keep people from learning about Ron Paul to assure Hillary's presidency.

Note: Here we have a whole article dedicated to the coverage of Republicans without mentioning Hillary or Obama, and we have Bruce-too-much-Dem-coverage-in-the -SWAMP-aka-liberal-media-bias left unsatisfied because the Democrats were left out.

Another earth shattering fact pointed out by our 30-second search expert , Bruce. In a straw poll of Christian conservative voters Democrats would be so significant as to not even register or be worth mentioning. Way to go, Bruce. Thanks for looking. We at the Swamp could not have cared more about this now that you pointed this big fat juicy fact out, and it completely changes the concept behind the article.

Once again, Romney shows his message resonating with Evangelicals. Unfortunately, though Huckabee would be their clear choice, he doesn't have a chance, and Romney does. They would do well to begin gathering around him as other Evangelical leaders have done this week to make sure a pro-life candidate makes it to the White House.

Ace reporter Bruce scoops the dirt on The Swamp for not including the Democrats that were included in the straw poll.

In fairness, maybe some research into the fundy quack dominionists that make up the FRC is in order. Should we start with their president, Tony Perkins who is tied to David Duke of the KKK? Or how about their incredibly non-Christian views on homosexuality? Intelligent Design? Abstinence only education? Global Warming?

it's really weird how many of these comments actually sound like they're from the respective candidates' campaign teams (especially for that deadbeat ron paul). i wish there was a way to screen some of these phony comments out. and to RNC bruce: why should the trib list all the rest of the candidates? they were merely pseudo-choices seeing as none of the "bottom" candidates even spoke there or had anything to do with it. seems like a ridiculous assertion to me.

Huckabee won the leadership vote! He didn't buy it; he lived and earned his first tier position.

In a future Huckabee administration how about Romney replacing the apparently ailing Ted Kennedy in the Senate, Giuliani for Vice President or for Attorney General, Hunter for Secretary of Defense, and Thompson for special counsel to the President or for Chief of Staff?

Huckabee is the only sincere candidate among these Republicans. He may not believe in evolution, but at least his belief comes from his heart not some ego-driven need for approbation (yeah, I'm talking about Rudy and Romney.) It is disturbing how Romney stuffed the ballot box! And, the internet support for Ron Paul is limited to the Libertarian fringe. It may sound good to want to do away with the income tax and all federal services, but when the Interstate bridge crashes out from under you, whom will you be able to blame? And, besides, would anyone elect another Texan to the White House any time soon?...Come on!
Hillary is not as divisive as the right wing "pundits" want you to believe (36%.) It might have been true in 1994 when their talking points were written, but nowadays the real divisive ones are Rudy (45%) and Romney (57%!!) Of course, "Values Voter" is just code for Pro-Life Voter (and not for, say, Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies Voter, or Affordable Health Care For All Children Before And After They're Born Voter...) But I do agree with Mark: Rudy (the "family guy") will be the nominee when the Republicans sell out for electability, and Huckabee (who really is a good and sincere man) will be his running mate. Hillary and Evan Bayh will be the Democratic nominees. And, they will win, with a huge crossover of so-called "values voters" who have become refugees from the corruption and sleaze in the GOP.

In addition to the FRC results, Zogby International released the results of an online survey today that show half of likely voters nationwide said they would never vote for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for president.

At the other end of the scale, only one candidate -- Democrat Bill Richardson -- faired better than Republican Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee is far from being the most conservative on economic matters. Fiscally he belongs in the democratic party. He can not win except with the religious bigots who can not allow themselves to vote for a mormon, women or black.

Romney comes out first in terms of accomplishment, intelligence, as well as faith and family. He devoted 2 years as a young man in full-time religious service, as did all 5 of his sons. I am shocked by the religious bigotry against Mormons. What happened to tolerance?

I hate online polls, where $1 and a click is all it takes. What matters to me is those who showed up, listened to the speakers and voted.

Huckabee 51%
Romney 10%

Romney didn't even show up at the Values Voter debate in Florida. He didn't show up at the PBS All-American Presidential Forums with Black journalists. He didn't speak to NEA. He didn't dare address the AARP. He didn't speak toa union. Mike's done all of the above.

Sorry to piss on your parade folks, but the Huckster will not be the nominee, he his hedging his bets with the evangelicals so that he can drag them to the voting both, kicking and screaming, for whatever establishment man the GOP thinks is going to get the nod.

Note that the "Swamp" article which proclaims to give the "overall totals" actually gives nothing of the sort, but rather totals for only the leading candidates. The RINO doesn't seem to be aware, or if he is aware tries to hide the fact, that all the candidates, Democrats included, were part of this poll.

Posted by: Bruce | October 20, 2007 4:18 PM

Man are you ever a crybaby!

Bruce I thought you GOP Kool-Aid guzzlers were supposed to be tuff guys. Look Romney and Huckabee are both brainwashed religious fanatics. Romney will say anything to get elected just like that other loser Rudy the fake hero of 911.

A lot of spinning going on here. Let's face it--Huckabee is an ordained Baptist minister and former president of the Arkansas convention. The story isn't that he got robbed, but why he didn't get 90 plus percent of the vote.

Romney's victory is nothing short of astonishing if you've fallen prey to the media frame that Evangelicals hate Mormons and would never vote for one. Apparently Evangelicals are more open minded that the liberal-left ever gave them credit for.

The on site voting polls were closed down after Romney's speech and opened back up after Huckabee's speech the next day. That means those who came to support and listen to Huckabee were able to vote on site. Those who came to listen to and support Romney the day before were not.

There were many more attendees at the event than voted on site. A lot of folks who attended voted online with their laptops and other electronic hand helds. The non-progressive folks waited in line to vote.

The organization that sent out the emails urging people to vote online was the community "Evangelicals for Mitt". Romney's own campaign did not do that, duh he has an 80,000 donor base, if he had solicited online votes the would have blitzed the online voting.

(Swamp editor's note: Actually, in addition to whomever was soliciting support for Romney online, the Romney campaign itself distributed email Thursday night to its own supporters telling them how to sign up and vote. The vote for Romney clearly was influenced by forces outside the hall, where Huckabee clearly was more popular.)

“Anybody but Hillary" I am a female voter. I am not going to vote for Hillary. I think she is very wicked. She will do anything possible to hand America over to the Mexicans on a silver platter and force us middle class Americans to pay for it via more money that she will rob out of our paychecks! The wealthy of our country can move their money to banks outside the country. The poor of our country have no money to take. That just leaves us...the middle class to shoulder the burden of taking care of all the perks that are on the Clinton wish list. Level headed, middle class Americans better pay attention to this.

“Anybody but Hillary" I am a female voter. I am not going to vote for Hillary. I think she is very wicked. She will do anything possible to hand America over to the Mexicans on a silver platter and force us middle class Americans to pay for it via more money that she will rob out of our paychecks!
Posted by: v.cobb | October 21, 2007 11:54 AM

You may be middle but I'm not sure about the class. Kinda funny coming from the republican party whos' president votes for amnesty.

I don't know how Ron Paul did so well. Perhaps it was the online voting? Like Romney, he's good at manipulating the results online. Paul is anti-abortion, but he's a pro-drug legalization guy. He wouldn't have any problem with porn in our communities or in our schools. To limit it would limit "freedom" in his views. He supports gay "rights" including gay marriage. Ron Paul is a liberal libertarian on social issues - except abortion. One saving grace, I guess, but not enough to win social conservatives or conservative religious people.

As a concerned Christian voter, it concerns me greatly how misinformed some of these comments appear to be. Some, like Stephen's comment, are so factually incorrect that I must assume are purposeful lies while others are just ignorant of current events.

As a Christian, Huckabee and Paul are the only 2 candidates I could vote for and still be able to sleep at night. However, because of Paul's economic and immigration record and the fact that Paul's campaign is leaps and bounds ahead of Huckabee's in terms of support and money, I'm throwing my time, money and effort to Paul. Paul has won more straw polls than any other Republican candidate (these are people polls, not internet polls) and even garnered close to 20% of the vote in the Texas GOP straw poll where only past GOP delegates could vote.

Ron Paul also has the most military support (active and retired) of any Republican candidate and has the fastest growing campaign (his 5+ million raised in the 3rd quarter - beating even McCain - made him the only candidate to raise more in the 3rd quarter than the 2nd).

Dr. Paul will get my vote in the primary and it will be based completely on Christian, American values.

It's been a hoot watching these guys tap dance in front of a crowd of 2000 who bases their entire belief system and education on a single book that has been grossly manipulated, edited, translated and misinterpreted for the past 2000 or so years. And I would place strong emphasis on 'misinterpreted'.

The bible is a inspiring text and there is much wisdom contained in it, but to use it as a security blanket and excuse not to learn is contrary to its true intent.

Did you not read the last sentence? As an American, I want my President to follow the Constitution. Ron Paul has an extremely long and consistent voting record that shows he does just that. If you dislike Paul so much, why don't you tell us who we should vote for?

Franklin...I have not made up my mind yet although I can tell you Ron Paul would be the "only" one I could vote for on the right. The rest are only clones (clowns) of Bush and the path to destruction. I have to admit I jumped on your post because I grow very tired of the hype over who is most religious or who is not. I will take morals over religion anyday. The 2, as I have found out over the years are "not" one and the same.

Mainstream Media wants the Mormon vs Christian debate because its conflict. We are brothers and sisters. Mormons included. Romney is, by far, the best candidate the U.S. has ever seen in terms of political and economic leadership. Let's not forget this -- we need intelligence in the White House. Huckabee doesn't have it.

I read this article. It seems to me that the writers were unhappy their chosen outcome was upset by another candidate's win.
Why was he not mentioned in a favorable way as often as the losers in their article were?

Franklin: Ron Paul is simply not electable. All of his support is from the outside of the GOP - the Libertarian Party's attempt to hijack the Republican party. Paul is far out of the mainstream of the GOP, and just saying "these are lies" don't cover up the fact that he would allow Gay Marriages and favors ending all efforts to keep drugs like Meth and Cocaine flooding into the "free market" of American towns and cities. (And no, it's not just pot, as some would like us to believe, although that's destructive enough.)

Libertarianism is social liberalism dressed up in hyperpatriotic rhetoric and it's neither Christian nor moral. It's amoral and ambivalent. It's dead wrong for society and it would be the death knell of the GOP to embrace a radical invividualist like Ron Paul.

Stephen- Ron Paul is THE ONLY ELECTABLE CANDIDATE. He IS THE ORIGINAL RONALD REAGAN GOP. Ask any Conservative Republican and they'll tell you. You really need to bone up on the history of the Republican party. Ron Paul hasn't left the Republican party they left him. He's the only candidate that has had a consistent voting record in line with Constitutional principles for the last 20 years. His stance on the Drug War is correct it is an abomination like the war on terror. The war on drugs consumes 100's of billions of tax dollars annually to jail people for pot. These people go to prison for 10 to life and the murderers and child molestors are out on parole. there are 7000 ex police captains, chiefs of police, prosecutors and judges that will tell you the same thing. If the drug war was repealed these drugs would be relegated to the private sector and much harder to obtain. People that are dependent could get treatment. As things stand they go in get out and are rearrested and go back to jail. It is an endless vicious cycle. The winners are the jails and the fed govt subsidies for beds, same goes for the prisons.
This would help eliminate the underground market because the prices would plummet. Law enforcement would then be allowed to do the job they're meant to which is arrest violent criminals. If your concerned with socialism don't worry it's here. The Patriot Act, the North American Union and the National ID Card..ALL HAVE TO BE REPEALED..DR PAUL IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE THAT HAS ADDRESSED THESE COUNTRY SAVING ISSUES. BOTTOM ,LINE IF YOU WANT YOUR COUNTRY BACK VOTE FOR DR RON PAUL AND PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TO Ron Paul 2008.com

SCARY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY #26:
Huckabee and Guiliani have nothing for the economy compared with Romney's business and economic acumen. Will you still be complaining about Romney's faith when they lay you off and foreclose your home? Get real, and don't get me started about Huckabee as a foreign policy disaster. Huckabee and Ahmadinejad sitting across at a table???? That's classic, what a nightmare.

Take all of the t-shirts mocking Bush you see at the mall and insert Huckabee's face. That's what college kids may be wearing until 2012. Bush haters are going to LOVE Huckabee, what a goober...there's a good image for the Republican stigma. Are you kidding me??

Why don't we all vote for an inferior candidate merely because he's not LDS. Evangelicals are going to ruin this nation!!

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